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Yesterday at the pen shop. The guy emptied a small paper pack full of old Lamy Safaris in decent to excellent condition - various colours. All around $10. Could not believe my eyes when among the bunch peeked an unmistakable and familiar Green! The Savannah. Mint condition with the sticker still on it, although the print was gone. Picked them all and naturally felt overjoyed! However, in daylight today, I see a name sitting there, quietly, on one facet. Small fonts. Not very visible but distinctly there. Heat stamped / engraved. My question to any one who may be able to help is - 'what do I do?' 'can I remove the personalization?' Is there any way this name could be dealt with while retaining the matt finish of the surface of the barrel? In fact, I have another barrel from the past (just the barrel), somewhat beaten but without any imperfection. A bit off tone from the mint cap of this current find but I could still manage. I switched section and cap...but the cap is loose in this setting (the original barrel swapped with the replacement). Any help on either of these fronts would be really appreciated.. Good day all!

If you use only vintage, high-quality fountain pen, please move on. This subject matter is strictly for people like me who mess around with "genuine, non-imitation" plastic fountain pens. Plastic pens can receive minor or major scratches. So can metal pens, but many metals can be polished to remove most scratches. My Waterman Phileas began life as an inexpensive student pen. No lacquer finish. No solid-gold nib (at least that I've seen). No wood, glass, or ivory inlay. It was and still is a molded plastic pen cast in one solid color (and others bear a faux-marble appearance). I shouldn't be finicky about this, but it bothers me when my favorite pen suffers cosmetic scratches or gets that hazy patina resulting from countless small scratches. I have tried buffing it back to a glossy shine using toothpaste. (Hey don't laugh—toothpaste is a very gentle polishing compound that works on certain plastics without creating new scratches.) But considerable work was required to produce any visible improvement. I have one "freebie" Phileas that shows sings of a previous owner's butchery. They must have attempted to use a coarse grit sandpaper because the "polishing" left more scratches than it could possibly have removed. I would post photos but I seem to have used up my limit of download space. Has anyone had any luck polishing or buffing scratches out of their Phileas? If so, please share. If you think it is absurd to put this much effort into a low-end plastic pen, please refer back to the first paragraph. —www.twelvedrawings.com